Could Vancouver soon be getting a pedestrian scramble crosswalk?

Vancouver could soon be getting a pedestrian scramble, a six-way crosswalk that essentially turns an intersection into a pedestrian free-for-all at certain times.

A scramble would be a good fit for Vancouver and make the city more walkable and pedestrian-friendly, said Coun. Peter Meiszner, who co-authored a motion with Coun. Lenny Zhou asking staff to propose potential locations for the initiative.

Pedestrian scrambles — also known as diagonal crossing — are intersections where vehicle traffic is stopped in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross laterally and diagonally.

“They give pedestrians a greater level of comfort in terms of crossing the street,” said Meiszner. “They increase walkability, and they’re used all over the world to great success.”

The most famous example is Tokyo’s Shibuya crossing, where more than two million pedestrians scramble across the intersection every day, or roughly 2,500 people per crossing. There’s also a pedestrian scramble at Oxford Circus, one of the busiest spaces in London, at Toronto’s Dundas Square, and in Richmond’s Steveston Village, which opened in 2011.  Edmonton has more than half a dozen pedestrian scrambles.